John Abraham starrer Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran received a positive response from most of the critics, but the film opened with an average occupancy at the theatres on Friday.
Having released in 1,935 screens across India, the historical drama reportedly enjoyed 20-30 percent occupancy on its opening day. The first-day business was slightly hit by the IPL match on Friday evening, but the film managed to rake in decent numbers.
On its opening day, Parmanu recorded Rs 4.82 crore nett collection at the domestic box office. Considering the genre of the film, Parmanu's first day business was better than expected. It is a non-masala film with John, Diana Penty and Boman Irani being the only popular stars.
Also, Parmanu faced tough competition from Alia Bhatt's Raazi, which is still running successfully at the commercial circuits, and Ryan Reynolds Deadpool 2. Interestingly, Raazi and Parmanu are based on real-life events and are patriotic in nature.
Raazi too had an average start at the box office, but the strong word of mouth worked wonders for the film, which is now at the verge of crossing Rs 100 crore at the Indian box office. Parmanu may witness similar fate, and might come up as a hit, as the word of mouth is very strong.
The film had a slow start at the domestic market, but the collection is expected to witness decent jump over the weekend. Positive reviews and word of mouth are likely to boost the film's earning over the weekend.
Meanwhile, John, who has produced the movie as well, is happy that audience enjoyed the movie and critics have given positive reviews.
"Nothing could make me happier today than the validation of our efforts to celebrate our unsung heroes by our audience across India! I have been getting so many calls from our distributors and exhibitors and I'm thankful to each one of them for their unstinted support and for standing by and loving this labour of love. I am humbled and grateful to each one of them," John said.
Directed by Abhishek Sharma, the John Abraham plays the lead in the movie, which is based on the historic event of India's nuclear tests conducted under a covert operation.
